Psalms 39
TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, TO JEDUTHIN, A PSALM OF DAVID
The Commentator Mairi says that Yedutin (JEDUTHIN) was the Chief Musician amongst the Levites who sang in the Temple Service. David composed this song to be sung by Yedutin and his band of singers and he wanted Yedutin to introduce himself at the beginning of the refrain. S.R. Hirsch says that the name Yeduthin is from the root "YAD" meaning "hand" or "measurement" and reflects the theme of this Psalm. The Psalm tells us that in this world we only have the time and opportunity meted out to us. S.R. Hirsch says that Yeduthin represents Divine Providence (the "Hand" of the Almighty) whose reality is impressed upon us by this holy song.

[Psalms 39:1] I SAID, I WILL TAKE HEED TO MY WAYS, THAT I SIN NOT WITH MY TONGUE: I WILL KEEP MY MOUTH WITH A BRIDLE, WHILE THE WICKED IS BEFORE ME.
The sin of evil speech is very grievous. The Sages pointed out that the Children of Israel committed idolatry and worshipped a golden calf yet they were forgiven. On the other hand, they spread and believed a bad report about the Land of Canaan and they were punished. Often others provoke us and we can be sorely tempted to say things that are not exactly so or even if they are correct are better left unsaid. Even good people and close family members sometimes entrap us to sin with our tongue. This is even more the case in the presence of evil people and they who have not got the fear of God before them. Radak says that David was suffering and was tempted to complain before God and man of his troubles but decided to keep silent, cf. "IN ALL THIS DID NOT JOB SIN WITH HIS LIPS" (Job 2:10).

[Psalms 39:2] I WAS DUMB WITH SILENCE, I HELD MY PEACE, EVEN FROM GOOD; AND MY SORROW WAS STIRRED.
Most of us are not at the level of David who suffered sickness and persecution nor of Joseph who was sold into servitude and then unjustly accused of a crime he did not commit and imprisoned. We do not want to undergo trials and temptations and adversity. Just let us get through the day as well as we can, the easier the better. It does not matter. We all have our failures and triumphs and we ask the Almighty to help us do what we must as well as we can. If adversity comes upon us we hope we will bear through. And if we be successful we hope our success will be for good. We should never be sure of ourselves and yet never fear.

[Psalms 39:3] MY HEART WAS HOT WITHIN ME, WHILE I WAS MUSING THE FIRE BURNED: THEN SPAKE I WITH MY TONGUE,

[Psalms 39:4] LORD, MAKE ME TO KNOW MINE END, AND THE MEASURE OF MY DAYS, WHAT IT IS: THAT I MAY KNOW HOW FRAIL I AM.
David asks God to let him realize how frail and limited he is. Our own worst enemy is often vanity or the sheer lack of constant conscious realization of how everything we might have or done is so vaporous and liable to be blown away any minute unless the Almighty helps us. When my father was very young his father (my grandfather) was sick and prepared himself to die. In the end he recovered and lived to be 106 years old and was quite healthy almost until the end.

[Psalms 39:5] BEHOLD, THOU HAST MADE MY DAYS AS AN HANDBREADTH; AND MINE AGE IS AS NOTHING BEFORE THEE: VERILY EVERY MAN AT HIS BEST STATE IS ALTOGETHER VANITY. SELAH.

[Psalms 39:6] SURELY EVERY MAN WALKETH IN A VAIN SHEW: SURELY THEY ARE DISQUIETED IN VAIN: HE HEAPETH UP RICHES, AND KNOWETH NOT WHO SHALL GATHER THEM.
"A VAIN SHEW": The Hebrew should preferably be rendered (as explained by the Radak) as saying that A MAN WALKS IN A SHADOW as something that will quickly pass away.

[Psalms 39:7] AND NOW, LORD, WHAT WAIT I FOR? MY HOPE IS IN THEE.

[Psalms 39:8] DELIVER ME FROM ALL MY TRANSGRESSIONS: MAKE ME NOT THE REPROACH OF THE FOOLISH.
David in his own eyes may not have been worth much but he realized that he had come to represent a principle in the eyes of others. He asks God that at least he should NOT be a cause for those without wisdom to denigrate the righteous path.

[Psalms 39:9] I WAS DUMB, I OPENED NOT MY MOUTH; BECAUSE THOU DIDST IT.

[Psalms 39:10] REMOVE THY STROKE AWAY FROM ME: I AM CONSUMED BY THE BLOW OF THINE HAND.

[Psalms 39:11] WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES DOST CORRECT MAN FOR INIQUITY, THOU MAKEST HIS BEAUTY TO CONSUME AWAY LIKE A MOTH: SURELY EVERY MAN IS VANITY. SELAH.
We may well deserve all the troubles and pain that come upon us multiplied many times over. Nevertheless we pray to God to help us as HE wants us to and HE will listen but not because we deserve it .

[Psalms 39:12] HEAR MY PRAYER, O LORD, AND GIVE EAR UNTO MY CRY; HOLD NOT THY PEACE AT MY TEARS: FOR I AM A STRANGER WITH THEE, AND A SOJOURNER, AS ALL MY FATHERS WERE.
We are alone in the end time. We may be what we are and have done what we did because of our parents and our friends and our spouse and everyone around us. It will not help. In the end we each one of us be like a stranger all alone before the Almighty and have to give account. Only God will be there for you when you go to meet HIM. All the mighty men of old, all the forefathers of the Bible, all the fathers of David (and often in some cases even our own ancestors) knew this fact. They were all lonely men who stood on the side of righteousness and followed after the Almighty into the Wilderness and through the valley of Death and Tears.
Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, France 1160-1235):
"David said in the Book of Chronicles, "FOR WE ARE STRANGERS BEFORE THEE, AND SOJOURNERS, AS WERE ALL OUR FATHERS" [1-Chronicles 29:15].
The point is that a person is this world is like a sojourner in a country not his own who is always moving from one place to another. A man in this world has no permanent standing. Every day he is on a journey that will eventually take him away but he does not know when".

[Psalms 39:13] O SPARE ME, THAT I MAY RECOVER STRENGTH, BEFORE I GO HENCE, AND BE NO MORE.
Give me a chance. Let me recover and become strong again so that I may act righteously and take with me to the Other Side some few good deeds, a little self-respect that I did try to do YOUR will even if only a little. Even if I will not succeed let me try again.
You only have this world to do good by your own will.
You only have this life to walk in truth by choice.
How long do you have?
A few minutes?
An hour?
A year?
Twenty years?
Another hundred years? It will still end.